Melissa Barrera Fired From Scream Franchise for Antisemitic Propaganda

Cancel culture has claimed another Hollywood starlet. Typically Hollywood will fire and blacklist celebrities who deign to take some semi-conservative or right-wing stance. But this time, a rabid left-wing talking point has forced a production company to fire one of its stars.

Melissa Barrera was fired over the Thanksgiving weekend for some statements she made on social media concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict. Much of the ultra progressive wing of the country has taken up the banner for Palestine in this raging war in a way that borders on terrorist sympathy. Barrera seems to be just one of those crazed activists.

Barrera has become ensconced in the iconic film series Scream as she played one of the leading roles in the last two films to be made. She was set to also star in Scream VII until some of her Instagram posts put her on the chopping block.

In one post Barrera engaged in outright propaganda when she called Israel’s defensive attacks after the devastating terrorist attack on October 7th acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing. “Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp. Cornering everyone together, with no where to go, no electricity no water … People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING,” she posted.

In another post, Barrera insinuated that Jewish people are in control of the western media and censoring pro-Palestinian voices. She wrote, “I have been actively looking for videos and information about the Palestinian side for the last 2 weeks or so, following accounts etc. Why? Because western media only shows the other side. Why they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself. Usually, the algorithm on social media gets the gist. Well… my discover page on IG will only show me videos showing and talking about the Israeli side. Censorship is very real.”

Due to this propaganda and semi-antisemitic rhetoric, Spyglass, the production company behind the Scream franchise, fired Barrera. They issued a statement about this decision citing a no-tolerance policy for this kind of hate speech. “Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech,” the company wrote.

In her first post, Barrera claims that the Israeli government is engaging in genocide and references the history of the region. While the history is long and complex, the reality of the present day is very clearly proving her incorrect. Israel was the victim of an unprovoked attack on October 7th leading to the barbaric slaughter of innocent people. This attack came from a terrorist organization.

Hamas has expressly made it their mission to eradicate the Jewish state and the Jewish people taking up the battle cry, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” One of the leaders of Hamas has previously said, “Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north. There will be no concession on any inch of the land.” They use this platform as a rationalization for mass murder. The true genocide is being perpetrated by the people Barrera is supporting.

Furthermore, Barrera’s claim about the media coverage being dominated by pro-Israeli voices is completely false. In fact, many social media companies are being blasted for inflating voices on the Palestinian side. TikTok is a prime example. In looking at the platform’s statistics, the tag #FreePalestine had been viewed 917 million times, which was exponentially higher than any pro-Israel tag. Of course it is not beyond the realm of reason that the Chinese owned company would put its thumb on scale against an American ally. Barrera’s comments about representation in social media are not based in reality and are rooted in antisemitic prejudice.

Despite one’s feelings on cancel-culture, Hollywood is notorious for it. However, the reasons for firing Hollywood starlets seems to be starkly different on both sides. A few years ago when tensions between Israel and Hamas were high, Gal Godot was fired after posting that she was praying for peace in her home country of Israel. She was not advocating for more violence or acting as a terrorist sympathizer; she simply wanted peace. And her firing was deemed reasonable and justified by the left-wing zealots of America.

Now Melissa Barrera is fired for rewriting history and spreading antisemitic propaganda, but her firing is met with backlash and hostility. Spyglass Pictures may have made the right call in this situation, but Hollywood maintains its blatant partisanship at its core.